Mountain Bike: Giant

2009 Giant Anthem X LTD Carbon

“Across seven continents and fifty-odd countries, underneath thirty-two of the world’s brightest professional cyclists, in over ten thousand retail outlets, and throughout the streets of the world’s most populous nations, you’ll find bicycles designed and built by Giant, ‘The Global Bicycle Company’.”

That’s a pretty bold statement right there. This global philosophy makes it hard to pin down where the HQ is, but they manufacturer out of an enormous facility in Taiwan, according to Wikipedia

From a brand perspective, somewhere in my travels, I’ve heard Giant are the largest bicycle manufacturer in the world in terms of volume. Whilst I can’t conclusively prove this tidbit fact, in past years looking at their range of bikes and the matching components that come at a particular price point, there is no denying that dollar for dollar, they were amongst the best value complete build bicycles money could buy. Their current line up of mountain bikes seems to have shrunk a bit for 2009 relative to previous years, but consists of:

• Competition: Glory DH (Downhill) Anthem (Cross Country Dual Suspension), XTC Advanced (Carbon Fibre Hardtail)
• Trail: Trance X, XTC Hardtail
• All Mountain: Reign
• Freeride: Reign X

Giant’s claim to fame back in the early days of its dual suspension in 2000/2001 bike development was the NRS – No Resonance System – famously developed in conjunction with the Renault F1 Team offering suspension resonance, telemetry and geometry expertise. In 2007 this was updated both branding wise and structurally/technically to become the Maestro platform, which has been met with critical acclaim as reaching that holy grail of compliant under pedal load and active under braking (no brake jacking). The promotional vids went around the net and captured that sense of “get out there and ride”

I find Giant Bicycles a bit of an odd beast at times in relation to the brand, its uptake and the way they go about presenting product and supporting it. There is no doubting the quality nor depth of the range, covering as they do every variant of bicycles from children’s bikes, triathlon, time trials and road across to cyclocross, hybrids, commuters and mountain bikes. Technology is not lacking either, with their own take on carbon fibre gracing the top echelon of product as the pinnacle of design and technical advancement and oftimes various of their bikes showcasing the latest elite and exclusive release products from component manufacturers like SRAM and Shimano.

Pick say the pricepoint of $2,000 AUD for a Hardtail MTB as an example and you are met with the XTC2. In 2009 trim it comes with a mix of Shimano XT running gear, Avid brakes, RaceFace cockpit (seat post, stem, headset & bar) & Mavic rims. Comparisons with other manufacturers will find the tendency to err towards a generic or own brand cockpit and lower spec trimmings around spokes, cables and tyres. Not Giant. Hand over your cash and you’ll find yourself a highly specified and well made bike which has a very comfortable “fits like a glove” geometry and feel to its ride. I find Giants (and this is a gross generalisation) don’t do any one thing brilliantly, but do everything really, really, REALLY well, leading to a true “sum of its parts makes for the greater whole” experience. Alot of my friends ride Giant, love them and they are amongst my first recommendation for anyone to look at. In addition, the sheer scale of the dealer network means that the support is there if things go south. From a riding point of view, I find them a very “relaxed” position having ridden a couple of the XTC hardtails, their original dual suspension cross country NRS series bicycles and more recently the Trance and Trance X series. They’re smooth, easy to steer and just “ride”. Do everything very well, nothing brilliantly.

What I find odd is that this reputation for value for money and good equipment is jarred by the online and instore experience. If you Google the words “giant bikes”, you are met with a slew of different websites. It is not easy to dessiminate which is the official website as opposed to a dealer website. Bad move. Once you get to the official website for your respective country, I find that they are a totally underwhelming experience, particularly next to the likes of Cannondale, Specialized, Trek etc. The websites are bland, and don’t hold a lot by way of character. More noticable (particularly next to the other branded websites) there is little differentiation between a basic $400 steel framed, caliper brake shod 19kg mountain bike verses a $10,000, disc brake, 9.5 kg carbon fibre race ready weapon. This haphazard approach extends to the bike stores themselves. I’d love to say that Giant present a great buying experience, but they just don’t – I’ve never walked into a store that stocked Giant which has totally blown me away in every aspect – sales staff technical knowledge, product presentation, store layout – it just isn’t in the same class as what the guys at Specialized, Cannondale, Scott or Trek do.

• Official Website Portal http://www.giant-bicycles.com
• Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Manufacturing

Mountain Bike: Felt

Jim Felt is a name that has been kicking around the mountain bike industry from way back in the early days of the sport in the early 90′s, with hisbackground originally starting in motorcross and supporting some of the leading lights in the triathlon field. Relative to the big players like Giant, Specialized, Kona & Trek, you could classify Felt as at the boutique end of the spectrum, but what they lack for in size, they more then make up for in quality, range and innovation.

I have always likened Felt to be the Elite Tie Fighter of mountain bikes – you know that they’re out on their own, you know that they are the underdog, but man, do they make some red hot gear. Mountain Bike Action mag summed up Felt perfectly in their December 2007 Review of the RXC Team Hardtail:

“…In fact, the whole bike looks fragile – in the same way that a Formula One car looks fragile. That airy ethereal look is a large part of why the Felt retails for almost five grand. This bike looks out of place everywhere but a race course….. Jim Felt, the man behind Felt Bikes, doesn’t want a trail rider on this bike, he doesn’t want it ridden on rail to trail paths and he would probably prefer that beginners stay away from it. The RXC Team is made for a rider who knows how to treat a dedicated race bike.”

Felt’s focus initially started in the road bike area, with the Triathlon specific B2 & DA time trial bikes both turning the triathlon scene on its collective ear when they were unveiled back in 2000. The integrated headset dubbed “bayonet”, designed within a wind tunnel was one of the first of its type which hid cabling within to cut down on wind drag – yes brake & derailler cables cause drag too. This focus on every aspect of bike design really puts Felt in the area of ultra close detail in every aspect.

From a Mountain bikes perspective Felt initially offered the well regarded RXC series, which were well specced hardtails that ranged from $1500 all the way up to $7,000+ for a fully shod XTR and carbon fibre race ready weapon. The Q series were the recreational versions In 2005/2006, saw the introduction of the Equilink Suspension platform, which was a refined variant of the classic 4 bar linkage, with a bright red anodised aluminium rod which was designed to counteract the vertical vector forces from pedal induced bob, ensuring this was translated into a perpendicular plane for forward propulsion. Sound confusing? Well it works. Ride a Equilink equipped Virtue (Cross Country focussed) or one of the more All Mountain targetted Redemption bikes and you’ll love how fast you can crank up a hill and rail through a choppy high speed corner. Seriously good equipment.

Felt, with its more boutique focus have a particularly long and illustrious list of notable factory sponsored riders representing all disciplines of the sport, from Triathlon, Road, Track across to X-Country & Endurance MTB’ing.

• Mountain Bike Factory Team - Joel Graf (SUI), Juerg Graf (SUI), Blaza Klemencic (SLO), Andreas Kugler (SUI), Kashi Leuchs (NZL), Emil Lindgren (SWE), Connor McConvey (IRL), Daniele Mensi (ITA), Juri Ragnoli (ITA)
• Individual triathetes and elite cyclists - Michael Blatchford (USA), Fraser Cartmell (GBR), Tim DeBoom (USA), Adam Duvendeck (USA), Jan Frodeno (GER), Joscha Forstreuter (GER), Sarah Hammer (USA), Michellie Jones (AUS), Becky Gibbs Lavelle (USA), Chris Mahoney (GBR), Darren Pokoj (AUS), Daniela Ryf (SUI), Travis Smith (CAN). Emma Snowsill (AUS), Cameron Zink (USA)

Website Review: The Felt websites have recently been revamped and I must say – about bloody time. Whilst there are niggles here and there from a User Interface perspective, the improvement in navigation, information, layout and handling of the international franchises and distributors is light years ahead of the previous family of websites.

Previously, different countries had licence to design and manage the sites the best way they saw fit – the consequence was a very, very poor representation of the Felt Brand, disunity around how products were represented and what was being represented and poor standards around photography and appropriate representation of the factory sponsored riders and atheletes.

The new website family has adopted a consistant look and feel for each country and have capacity to deliver country specific products and news personalised by region. At time of writing the sites were still being populated by the respective countries for peripheral data around history, local team riders and some of the product spread, but the critically painful past web network where you jumped between different countries to determine the specifications of different parts of the same bike has been given away. For example one site would list an RXC Team has having a XTR Crank, but not list what the seat post was (generic or Thomson etc) whilst the other website wouldn’t list the crank model but list a Thomson seat post in the spec. Annoying. Thankfully the new site appears to be a vast improvement.

Felt’s International Country Portal = http://www.feltbicycles.com/
Felt Racing Australian – Enduro MTB Elite Racing Team = http://feltracing.blogspot.com/

Mountain Bike: Cannondale

Cannondale Rush Team Replica 2009

Cannondale Scalpal Team Carbon 2009

Headquartered in Bethel, Connecticut, USA, Cannondale designs, develops and produces bicycles at its factory in Bedford, Pennsylvania, USA. Owned by Dorel Industries, Cannondale operates subsidiaries in Holland, Switzerland, Japan, and Australia.

Cannondales 2009 Mantra is “The Good Fight”. Throughout their website, they have extensive references to fighting to be different, daring to innovate in the face of adversity and challenging the norm. The folk at Cannondale, to be fair can be called a proud lot. From their point of view, it is all driving toward being the best.

And that’s the thing about Cannondale – they ARE different. And that difference has seen their fair share of elite cyclists making up Team Cannondale and a covey of podium wins. The Lefty front shock mountain bikes are an eye opener when you first see them and when you ride one… lets just say you would never have realised how quick and supple your steering could be – it’s awesome. The lower inertia weight of just the one stauncheon and the reduced mass, all contribute to a superb ride. Anytime I see a Cannondale up close, I always marvel at the finish the bikes have – hand polished weld lines, to show up flaws and sub fractures during manufacturer and the famous “Built in USA, Lifetime Warranty” emblazoned upon the frame.

The range is extensive, covering road bikes as well as mountain bikes. Mountain bike wise, they have some of the most well regarded frame geometries out there:

* Scalpal – Cross Country/Race
* Rush – 24 hour/Endurance/Marathon
* Moto/Rize – All Mountain
* Perp/Judge – Downhill
* Taurine/Caffeine – Hardtail

Each of the above ranges are topped off by the Team variants, often with extra high spec goodies. Of particular note with the Scalpal is that it doesn’t actually have a pivot in its rear suspension where the chainstay meets the crank – it is made out a light weight, flexible carbon monocoque, which allows enough bend for the lean 3.5 inches of travel to take out the jitter in your ride. It’s a light and ultra fast bike.

Cannondale also do a cracking range of self branded components – warranting a closer look are the aforementioned Lefty single stancheon front shock, Hollowgram Cranksets and a good range of mountain bike shoes (I ride a pair).

Notable Factory Riders & Teams:

* Team Liquigas (Tour de France/Road)
* Chrissie Wellington – Triathlon
* Mirinda Carfrae – Triathlon
* Tinker Jurez – 24 Hour Enduro MTB
* Team Monivie

The Cannondale website keeps on improving every time I go there. Sometimes I wistfully wish I was part of team Cannondale and had one stored under the house instead of my Specialized, the site doing such a good job of imparting that sense of clan and adventure. Structurally, one of the best MTB websites around – it has good font size, images are crystal clear and the layout of product is excellent. The introduction landing page which directs you to the appropriate country makes use of flash in such a way, I just want to shut the laptop lid and jump on my bike and go for a spin – the action footage is fantastic. Continuing the theme, once you are in the site, language is written in a manner which appeals to mountain bikers – think the 24 hour enduro set, who subsist on 3 hours sleep, 9 litres of Gatorade, Musashi Mongrel Bars, burning through 2 sets of Lithium Ion batteries on their $600 HID lighting systems and riding upwards of 140km with our 2 team mates….

Cannondale’s site inspires – Go ride.

http://www.cannondale.com

Mountain Bike: Specialized

2009 S-Works Epic Carbon

With headquarters in Morgan Hill, California, Specialized is synonymous with innovation, podium wins and quality, well regarded products.

The brand represents all aspects of outdoor – road, mountain bike & serious recreational. The elite range within Specialized’s extensive lineup of equipment are seperately marketed and built under the S-Works branding, signifying exhaustive development, quality control of componentry and stringent build standards.

Interesting things that set Specialized apart.

• Extremely strong brand representation, from website, across to product and quality standards of the Specialized Dealer network.
• Specialized factory riders are dominant across all the sports disciplines, boasting a large number of podium level teams in high profile events such as the Tour de France, NORBA World Cup Series, Triathlon events globally and Olympics level representation.
• Whilst exact figures are not known widely, Specialized’s Research & Development division, predomininantly based in California is acknowledged to be amongst the largest and most experienced anywhere in the world. A focus on frame and suspension technology covering weight reduction and durability are hallmarks, with a number of heavily marketed successes the result. FSR suspension, which is a variation the 4 Bar Horst Suspension linkage is heavily patented and offers an excellent balance of ride characteristics – I’m somewhat biased, cause I ride one!
• 2003 saw the introduction of the BRAIN Shock, which offers inertia activited suspension dampening in the rear suspension setup. This gives the characteristics of a hardtail but allows fully active suspension when required.
• 2008 saw the introduction of an entirely integrated bike system – The Enduro – rear shock, frame, front shock, bottom bracket.

Mountain Bike Range:

• Epic/Era/Stumpjumper HT – Race/Cross Country
• Stumpjumper FSR/Safire FSR/ FSRxc / Myka FSR – Cross Country/All Mountain
• Enduro/Pitch – All Mountain
• Demo/Big Hit/SX Trail – Downhill/Freeride

2009 S-Works Stumpjumper FSR Carbon

Notable Factory Riders & Teams:

• Christoph Sauser
• Ned Overend
• Rebecca Rusch
• QuickStep (Tour De France/Road)
• Team Lampre (Tour De France/Road)

Website is one of the best out there – multi country selector is a pain the neck, but they have to do it to desseminate the correct product line up for each country. Once you are in there, the site is easy to use, although they could increase the font size for to assist readibility. Product flash demonstrations and walk throughs are amongst the best around. Navigating the product itself isnt’ too bad, although it takes a little bit of clicking around to find the appropriate link – its consistant across the site which is good. Product Images have an enlarged high resolution version, which is excellent.

http://www.specialized.com/

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N.B. The author owns a Specialized Bike.